Three Leadership Skills to Cultivate

By:

Jason Wong

Published Date:

May 27, 2016

Having the technical skills and knowledge to earn your CPA are obviously important, but you have to have more than just a good head for numbers to be a good leader. So what’s the difference between being Michael Scott or Tim Cook? Here are some leadership skills from Forbes to cultivate so you can set yourself apart as a leader.

Seeing others’ viewpoints. Being able to look at things from another person’s perspective is an important skill to have outside of leadership roles too, but the benefits of being able to do so as a leader are obvious. Maybe an idea sounds terrible to you at first glance and you think it merits immediate dismissal – but your coworker might have found a workaround.

Remaining calm through bad news. Overreacting on hearing news that is less than ideal can have far reaching negative consequences beyond the news itself. Give the situation time to play out. It’ll be easier to fix the problem if you’re calm, and rushing to place blame could result in even more trouble.

Coaching; not supervising. When you’re leading, your job isn’t to babysit the people you’re in charge of. Instead, you should be focusing on listening and empathizing with them. A good leader will help their people reach their professional goals, rather than act as an obstacle.